Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Sun Does Shine, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Discrimination and the Criminal Justice System
Optimism, Faith, and Choice
The Death Penalty
Suffering, Community, and Support
The Power of Stories
Summary
Analysis
Ray spends a few weeks on parole at Kilby prison and then returns to Jefferson County to wait for his trial. Over this time, Ray barely gets the chance to talk to Lester and his mom, as collect calls are expensive. A grand jury indicts Ray on November 8, 1985; his face is in all the papers, and he knows that people want him dead. Ray then meets with his court-appointed lawyer, Sheldon Perhacs. As they sit down together for the first time, Perhacs grumbles to himself about having to work for so little money. When Ray tells Perhacs that he’s innocent, Perhacs says, “all y’all always doing something and saying you’re innocent.” Ray knows he needs Perhacs, so he lets the comment slide.
Perhacs’s comments add another dimension to the discrimination that Ray faces in the criminal justice system. Perhacs displays his own racism in saying that “all y’all always doing something,” implying Black people just as Lieutenant Acker does. In addition, Perhacs’s annoyance about having to do work for so little money illustrates how the system is biased against people who are poorer, because Perhacs doesn’t put in the same kind of time or effort for Ray as he would for someone who is able to pay more.
Themes
Ray asks Perhacs for a lie detector test—anything that will help prove Ray’s innocence. Perhacs says that he will visit the jail again soon to talk about the case. Soon after, the judge sets a trial date of March 6, 1986. In preparation, Ray takes a polygraph test, in which the examiner asks him about his involvement with the three incidents at the restaurants. The examiner concludes that Ray told the truth and was not involved in the incidents.
Ray continues to have faith that he will be able to prove his innocence, and shows his drive to persevere in the face of the system’s clear biases. The polygraph test illustrates plainly that Ray did not commit the murders, providing him with additional hope.
Themes
After taking the polygraph test, Ray goes to bed with newfound hope. He doesn’t know how his mom came up with the $350 for the test, but he hopes this will vindicate him. Perhacs and Bob McGregor, the prosecutor, agreed that whatever happened with the polygraph, either side could use it to argue their case. But after the results come back, Perhacs visits Ray and tells him that McGregor went back on the deal and will no longer allow the polygraph test into evidence. Ray is horrified, wondering why McGregor wants to go to trial knowing that Ray didn’t commit the crime.
This story demonstrates how the prosecutor’s bias against Ray then enables him to manipulate Ray’s trial even more. Realizing the results would hurt his case against Ray, McGregor refuses to admit the polygraph despite the fact that it clearly shows Ray is innocent. Again, their priority seems to be to get a conviction, even at the cost of targeting an innocent man.
Themes
Perhacs walks Ray through the rest of the evidence. First, the bullets from the three incidents all match his mom’s gun. Ray knows this is false, because the gun hasn’t been fired in 25 years. Second, Smotherman picked Ray out of a photo lineup and said Ray did it. Ray knows this is impossible, as he was at work when this incident happened and there was a guard checking him in and out of the warehouse. Perhacs says that they’ll argue Ray snuck out of work, but Ray knows that it takes at least 25 minutes to get to Bessemer, and he would have arrived too late to commit the crime. He asks Perhacs to have someone drive the route, but Perhacs simply dismisses him.
Ray’s arguments illustrate that the state has either purposely fabricated evidence or made egregious mistakes in their case—and again, they simply don’t seem interested in looking for the person who actually committed the crime. Additionally, Ray becomes increasingly frustrated by Perhacs’s lack of support and effort. Without Perhacs’s empathy for his situation and his determination to prove Ray’s innocence, Ray feels even more hopeless and mistreated.
Themes
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Ray asks one final thing, noting that there have been other holdups with managers getting robbed since Ray has been in jail. Perhacs says he’ll look into it, but that he’s only being payed $1,000, and he “eat[s] $1,000 for breakfast.” Perhacs asks if Ray has anyone who can pay $15,000 for the work, but no one in Ray’s life has that kind of money. Ray also learns that Perhacs only has $500 to pay a ballistics expert, and no one wants to testify for so little money.
Ray exposes the economic discrimination in the criminal justice system as well as the racial bias. Without money, Ray doesn’t get an adequate defense or a good ballistics expert that can help prove him innocent. In effect, being poor can leave a person defenseless against the state’s power.
Themes
Ray calls his brother Willie and asks for money to help. Willie asks if Perhacs can guarantee that he will prove Ray’s innocence. Ray can’t help but think that if the situations were reversed, he would do anything for his brother. He wonders if Willie thinks that Ray actually committed the crime. He’s frustrated that no one seems to believe him except Lester and his mom. Ray calls Perhacs periodically to tell him how much he appreciates the work he’s doing, knowing that Perhacs is his only chance to show that he is not a cold-blooded killer.
These exchanges highlight how important community support is for Ray. While he values his mom and Lester, he contrasts his love for them with his disappointment in the lack of empathy and help from Perhacs and his brother Willie. Without their belief in him, Ray feels increasingly isolated and his suffering mounts.
Themes
